A Metro Nashville Public Schools statement said Pearl-Cohn High School staff observed a 15-year-old ninth-grader's suspicious activity on the football field, where a school resource officer subsequently found a pistol. The student told officials he bought the gun on the street.

Meanwhile, a 17-year-old 10th-grader told Stratford High School administrators he had a gun inside his bag when they observed him leaving and returning to campus. He said someone had given him the pistol.